Bone of the Father
by Stitched In Ice
Summary: The most important lesson Kakashi had learned over his long life of being a shinobi was to never touch strange looking kunai. Time travel, AU, De-age.
1. Yesterday's reach

He was falling- falling through space.

It started in ruins. Literally. It had been a mission; go check out this one place and look for anything valuable or dangerous or some shit. It's Tsunade, what did you expect?

So he went. And he looked. And he found. And dammit he knew he shouldn't have touched that damn seal.

But he did touch the seal- pulled out the whole damn kunai. So now he was falling through space. It was a strange feeling. Or maybe that was just the feeling of his body shrinking, he noted absently. Maybe he was in shock. But that was stupid, ninjas didn't go into shock.

His body was reverting. He wasn't just shrinking, he was actually de-aging. He could tell by the way his chakra mass grew smaller. Also by the way his /whole damned fucking eye fell out of its socket!/ Panicking, Kakashi desperately reached out, trying to grasp onto Obito's last gift. His fist closed around it- and it crumbled to ashes. Shock and pain shot through him as the grey haired boy stared at his empty hand.

He was abruptly shoved from his distress over losing the Sharingan as he slammed into the ground. Hard.

Laying on the ground, spread eagle and aching, Kakashi slowly brought a hand to his left eye. No scar. Staring into space, his chest clenched. No chakra drain. Obito. He was- he was now and truly /gone/. He laid there for a while more. He didn't now how long, probably a few hours seeing how the sun gradually moved in the sky but eventually someone disturbed his peace.

"If I cannot do five hundred push-ups on my pinkies then I shall run five hundred laps aroun- Oh! Gai-sensi! It seems someone else is already training here!" The sound of eager footsteps grew closer. Kakashi continued to lay there. A bowl cut and fuzzy eyebrows leaned over him. "Hello? Are you alright?"

Kakashi gave no response, choosing instead to stare as he snapped out of his reverie. Who- Gai's student? But he looked a lot younger than the last time he'd seen him...

The bowl cut gasped. "Gai-Sensei! I think something is wrong! He has unyouthfully not responded!" Kakashi blinked, but still didn't speak.

A deeper voice shouted back, and was also coming over by the sound of it. "Maybe they are exhausted from their youthful training Lee!" Ah, Lee, that was his name.

The familiar but-still-somehow-younger face of Gai leaned over to look at him, eyes widening as they did so. "... Kakashi?" He still didn't say anything, taking the situation into stock.

Gai shook his head there was no way this boy was his eternal rival. But maybe it was his child or somethi- ... Gasping, Gai reared back. "My eternal rival has a son?! How was it that I could not have known?!" Eyes sparkling and tears streaming from his eyes, the spandex man looked back at the kid on the ground. "How youthful!"

Finally Kakashi reacted. "... Excuse me?" What the HELL was he talking about? He didn't actually think that- that Kakashi just slept around or something right? ... Well, okay, there was that one time in his teens... But really! A shout brought him back to reality.

"Quickly! We must bring him back to my eternal rival! It looks as if he is too tired to get up!" Eyes growing large, Kakashi tried to protest, but was too late as Gai picked him up and dashed off bridal style. Sighing, the mini-Kashi's shoulders slumped, knowing there was no escape now.

How the hell was he going to explain this?

* * *

**Eventual time travel where Kakashi would pose as his own son. Totally ripped off of a fic I'd read before but can't remember the name of. So, idea not mine I , and a little reference to the Lost Tower here in the beginning.  
**


	2. And tomorrow

Growling and determinedly NOT pouting, Kakashi shifted a bit as he sat in Gai's arms. He didn't try and talk to him or anything because he was Kakashi and he was Gai and that's just not how it worked. Gai would talk to Kakashi and be ignored, not the other way around.

So he sat there, being carried as Gai vaulted through the air. The two approached Kakashi's little appartement and the spandex guy landed lightly, knocking on the door as he shifted.

And right as Kakashi was about to say that no one was going to answer the door- _someone answered the fucking door._  
Wait, WHAT.

And answering the door was none other than himself.

What the fuck.

So Kakashi- the bigger one- looked at Gai and Kakashi- the smaller one- who stared at Kakashi- the bigger one. And that was just plain confusing.

Big Kakashi looked at Gai. It wasn't a rare thing for Gai to knock on his door, but it seemed a little different this time as he hadn't immediately screamed off a challenge.  
Big Kakashi looked down at the bundle in his 'rival's arms and stopped dead.

Who the fuck was that and why did he look like himself?

Small Kakashi stared back, just as confused. What the hell was going on? Slowly, ever so slowly, he put it all together. And then stopped in denial.  
Younger Lee, younger Gai, meeting himself- who did actually look a bit younger-

Time Travel.

No way.

"G-Gai... what..." Big Kakashi spoke.

With a Good Guy Thumbs up and a tooth sparkle, Gai shouted "I have brought your son to you, my youthful rival! He was in training ground 4 and I had thought that I should bring him back to you!" His face then changed as he began crying. "I am hurt that you had not informed me of your offspring, my eternal rival!"

Big Kakashi just kept staring. His... his s-s-... son?!

Mini-Kashi just stared back, resolute and silent, jaw locked and lips sealed. During Gai's extravagant speach, he analyzed the situation. Right, okay, time travel. Sure. He could go along with that. And look at that, a cover story just waiting for him.

"Gai, that's not... I don't... I don't have a s-son..."Or if he did he sure as hell didn't know about it.

Another minute of staring. "You said you found him on training ground 4?" Gai nodded and Big Kakashi sighed. "R-right uh... well, give him to me then." He awkwardly held out his arms as Gai handed the boy over. "Uh... thanks... Gai." The spandex man gave him a Good Guy pose and a sunset in return. Kakashi slammed the door in his face.

Turning and walking into his little appartment, Kakashi set the grey haired child on the couch, then sat down on the opposing couch.

Silence.

Clearing his throat, the adult spoke. "So... who are you?"

Cover story all figured out, the small boy bit his lip and looked down, acting shy and unsure.

Big Kakashi tried and failed at being friendly as he eye smiled. "You can tell me, you know. I won't get mad."

"Y-you're... Copy Kakashi... right?" The little boy looked up eagerly, eyes sparkling ever so slightly.

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably- he never had liked that moniker. "Uh, yeah, yeah I am." At this, the kid relaxed a bit, a tiny smile crawling onto his face.

"I thought so, but I had to make sure because mama says don't talk to strangers but if you're Copy Kakashi then you're not a stranger because mama always said that Kakashi was my daddy and my daddy can't be a stra-" The young boy rambled on but Kakashi's brain had already stopped.

_...mama always said that Kakashi was my daddy..._

Oh dear god.

"Who was your mama? Where did you come from? Why did she say I was your daddy?" Kakashi spewed questions, interrupting the other' word vomit.

"Uhm... I'm from... Bird Country." Mini-Kashi quickly picked a place where he'd had a few drunken flings. "Mama said she met you when you were on a mission, but you had to go back to your village before I was born." Which was of course the nice way of saying Kakashi was celebrating a mission well-done and had made a bad choice while drunk off his ass.

"How old are you?" Was the next question.

"I'm nine!" He smiled, proudly holding up ten fingers.

Bid Kakashi sat back, taking it all in. The story was pretty concrete... It was true that he'd had a drinking binge around that time ago... In Bird Country... Most likely not using protection... Oh God...

Running a hand through his hair, Kakashi leaned forward. There was one sure-fire way to confirm this. Extending an arm, Kakashi set a hand on the boy's head. "I'm just gonna do a little something with my chakra, okay?" He said, then without waiting for an answer, released some chakra into the boy. It was accepted. Using the accepted energy as a guide, he felt it. The Hatake white chakra. He had it.

Immediately pulling back, as though burned, he stared in shock. It- he was really- a Son!

"O-okay." He spoke, voice cracking a bit. "Well, I guess from now on I'm your father..." He sat for a few moments, thinking. "What happened to your mother?"

Mini-Kashi flinched, looking down. "She got sick. Like, really sick. So she said I should go find Daddy because she was too sick to take care of me, but that you weren't." Suddenly, he looked back up, brows furrowed. "She said she'd get better. But... But I know she's not. She got the same sick as old man Roku got last year an' he died. So I know that mama's gonna... she's gonna die too." Okay, so maybe he was laying it on a bit thick here, but he had to get his past self to take him in, so the sappier the story, the better. He always had been a sucker for sob stories.

"She said I could find you in Konoha cuz' that was your ninja village." He then smiled brightly. "And I did! I found you!"

Big Kakashi couldn't help but smile back, however feebly. And then it fully hit him. He had a son. A son who's mother just died and had no one else apparently. Which meant the boy was now his responsibility.

Shit.

"I can... I can stay with you right?" Kakashi looked back to see the boy giving him the cutest face a kid could possibly make, and it felt like a stab to the heart. There was no way he'd make this boy- his son- grow up with out parents, the way he had. "Of course."

Smiling widely- Oh thank god, it worked- Mini Kakashi did a joyful little jig internally.

"So what's your name?" Shit. Shit shit shit. He hadn't though of a name yet! Uh... "Kama. My name is Kama."

"Scythe huh? ... Hatake Kama... Not bad." Big Kakashi mused, combing a hand through his hair as he went through a mental list. They'd have to make a birth certificate of course, get him registered with the village... but... "You were on training ground 4, right? How did you get in the village?"

Mini-Kashi smiled innocently, opening his eyes as wide as possible. "I snuck in with a big crowd of merchants."

Sighing, Kakashi made note to go talk to the chuunin guards as they obviously weren't doing their job right. "So... certificate, registration... Did you bring anything with you? Like clothes and stuff?" Mini-Kashi gave a negative shake of the head. "Alright, so some clothes and the like as well..." The shinobi looked around his one bedroom apartment. " ... and... I guess we'll have to move into the Hatake compound..." He hadn't even known the boy for an hour and he was already making this much trouble.

"When was the last time you ate?" 'Kama' shrugged and the man sighed. "Are you hungry?" Another shrug. "Well. Let's go get some food then." They began walking to the door when Kakashi stopped and reached into his pocket, pulling out... a face mask.

"Here, put this on."

"Why?" 'Kama' asked, curious at his other self's reasoning.

"Because it's funny to keep people guessing, right?" Kakashi eye smiled when Kama nodded eagerly and put it on. Originally, as a child, Kakashi had worn it to make keeping his identity secret on missions easier and it had just become a habit, keeping it on. And the theories about it were hilarious.

And so, for the first time in 18 years, two Hatakes walked down the street together wearing their eye-catching masks and their silver hair flopping over in an identically messy bush.

* * *

**So this is the last chapter that I'd written for this. I actually posted up the first chapter a while ago in my drabbles, and then apparently wrote this one? Idk man, I don't remember it. But this is the last installment and I probably won't continue it without some serious encouragement. The theme of this story is actually a lot lighter than I'm used to, so coming up with ideas for it is difficult.**


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